Heating Your Home Efficiently

How To Spot Problems

Last edited on August 18, 2010

Combi boilers have been around for years and are some of the most compact and efficient on the market. When these break down it can be expensive to replace them. We feel that you should know how to identify the most common problems that can occur. By identifying what is causing the problem you can figure out how to fix it without spending a fortune.

Unlike the traditional boilers – these units function by turning on a hot water valve. When you turn this on it will tell the boiler to heat up using it heat exchanger. The hot water will circulate inside of the heating system and than travel to the exchanger before reaching its destination. This helps the cold water to be heated quickly before it reaches the tap. This design makes it efficient – but it can cause many problems.

They are made with fewer parts – which makes them easy to install. However, it makes them twice as complicated as a normal unit. If you live in an area that receives hard water than your biggest problem is going to be scaling. This occurs on the inside of the unit and the heat exchanger. You need to clean it out on a regular basis or risk replacing it.

Over time it will seem that the water is taking a long time to heat up. At other times you might experience no hot water at all when one or more tap is running at the same time. This is a big problem no matter where you live and is worse when you are trying to take a shower.

The hot water provided to the tap and shower is heated by the main supply instead of the header pressure contained within a hot water tank. This usually works fine until the water companies reduce the water pressure during the summer months.

If your unit is not sealed properly than it will leak pressure. This usually occurs over time. You will need to fill the water pressure through the combi filling loop.